Chapter-20

Haku threw those senbons at the three of them. Naruto and Sasuke go hit on their legs and arms. But when they lifted their heads, they couldn't believe their eyes. Sakura was standing with her arms and legs wide open protectively in front of them. All was silent. Suddenly, a small voice spoke out, "Sakura-chan…" Naruto was in shock. She was bleeding by the looks of it. There was blood all over the ground. She did it again. Again.

Sasuke was about to yell out at her for being reckless but she did it again. She turned around and smiled.

"Sorry, you two. My body moved on its own." And after saying that she started to fall.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!"

They both caught her body and helped her sit up.

"Sakura! Sakura! Are you alright? Speak to me!" said a frenzied Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay? Please don't die!" begged Naruto.

Sakura slowly raised her hand and wiped Naruto's tears. "Don't worry, Naruto. I'll be okay."

But then she coughed up some more blood. She started breathing raspily.

"Sakura! Sakura! Not you too… not you too! I can't do this again…" Cried Sasuke with his eyes hooded. Watching someone important to him die in front of him while he's helpless happen again was too much for him.

Sakura raised her hand shakily and patted Sasuke's thigh.

"I'll be fine, Sasuke."

Sakura did a quick scan of her body and found that no vital spots were injured that badly. Haku spared her. But why? Before she could think further, she started to lose consciousness. Well I guess there's no harm in passing out. My body will heal at a normal pace. I won't heal it so that I won't look suspicious. And just like that, she slowly lost her senses. When Sakura's body went limp in their arms, both Naruto and Sasuke screamed her name over and over, begging her to wake up. They thought she was dead when they felt no pulse from her.

Both of them had their eyes hooded as they laid her on the ground softly and faced Haku.

"Such is the fate of the weak. They are left with nothing but guilt for being useless. That girl was much more stronger than you think. She had something to protect. And she gave her life to protect it. She was truly strong."

"Shut up." Said both of them. Sasuke raised his head and his eyes were red. He had awakened the level 1 of sharingan. Naruto started releasing red chakra. It was the nine tailed fox's chakra. Both of them were furious at Haku. He hurt Sakura. He killed… they couldn't believe it. This wasn't happening but it did. Team 7 was broken. Sasuke and Naruto lost their home. They both weren't going to forgive Haku.

Naruto had so much chakra coming out of him that the force threw out all the senbons stuck in his body and healed all the wounds. Sasuke was adjusting to his new ability. He pulled out all the senbons from his body and took out his kunai with new determination.

Haku spoke, "Now it's your turn."

Naruto angrily spat, "Didn't I tell you to shut up? It's your turn not ours."

Naruto created some clones and Sasuke took a defensive pose. Naruto and his clones approached for an exit and Haku attacked them but Sasuke used his sharingan and read Haku's movements. Sasuke threw some shurikens at Haku and one of them hit Haku's arm. Naruto's red chakra was overflowing the dome and he was getting angrier. All the fog started to dissipate and now they could see Kakashi and Zabuza at a distance. Naruto's eyes got cat shaped and red and his nails grew like fangs. He started to growl and started walking towards Haku. Sasuke was shocked to see Naruto like this. Naruto… just what in the world are you? Questioned Sasuke to himself out loud. But when both of them saw Sakura laying on the ground, all thought left them and they both started running towards Haku.

Naruto's wounds healed because of the red chakra and Haku's senbons were not affecting him anymore. Sasuke threw some shurikens at Haku while he was mid air to stop Naruto from exiting and he hit his leg this time. Naruto used speed and his fang like nails to break through the dome.

"Impossible! He broke my chakra filled ice just like that?!" said a flabbergasted Haku.

They had a clear victory in sight. Haku was injured and the dome was broken.

Meanwhile since the dome formed, another battle was taking place at a distance from the dome. Kakashi and Zabuza were duking it out with taijutsu. They both knew ninjutsu and genjutsu would be pointless against one another because of Kakashi's sharingan. But the fog was making it harder to see each other and Zabuza was using that to his advantage. He had the upper hand as long as the fog was there.

Kakashi was tensed up. He was alert for the battle but at the same time worried about his team. This was their first real battle and he couldn't go to them for their aid. He hoped nothing bad happened to them in his absence. He was also worried about Sakura and that was bugging him. He couldn't completely focus on Zabuza. But he decided to trust them and Sakura to protect them.

Zabuza swung his blade at Kakashi and Kakashi barely dodged it. Kakashi needed to gain the upper hand so he racked his brain for ideas. While in the middle of that, Zabuza came out of nowhere and swung two kunais in X shape at Kakashi's chest. There was blood all over the ground. Zabuza cut Kakashi and gave him a deep X shaped mark on his chest.

Kakashi rasped for breath as he tried to block off Zabuza and his blade. He jumped away and gasped for air. He was getting slow. He took out a scroll and took some of his blood from his vest and made the hand signs.

"Ninpou! Kuchiyousei no Jutsu!" yelled out Kakashi. But nothing happened. Zabuza came at him again and Kakashi hadn't recovered from his sitting position. Zabuza's blade came at him at full speed and there was no time for Kakashi to dodge. But then something happened. Zabuza's blade stopped right in front of Kakashi's face.

"Kakashi, you bastard! You planned for this all along!" yelled an angry Zabuza.

"Well, I can't afford to lose now can I?"

When the fog started to clear, it was visible. 7 dogs were digging in their teeth into Zabuza from all directions and he was locked in a place.

"It's over, Zabuza."

As soon as he said that, Sakura's clone disappeared. Kakashi's eyes widened and he looked towards the dome. That idiot girl! She's still trying to maintain her cover?! What happened in there?! Is she okay? What if she… NO! Kakashi couldn't bring himself to think of the worse. He was scared to death. What was going on inside that stupid dome?

"Haha! That must be Haku's work. One down, two to go. Your team isn't going to come out alive out of there." Spat Zabuza.

"Shut up! They are stronger than you think!" said Kakashi.

Suddenly, it was too quiet. And then a burst of chakra came their way. It was red. Uh oh. Naruto is using the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra! After a while, Kakashi saw Naruto break through the dome.

"What? He's alive and he broke Haku's dome?! Impossible! What a monster!"

Kakashi saw Naruto's orange outfit and Sasuke blue outfit and sighed in relief. Thank goodness they are okay. But… where is Sakura? Kakashi was looking for red and pink desperately but he saw none.

"Well, looks like the girl was done in but two remain. Never matter. Haku will take care of them too. And then he'll come to fight with me to deal with you." Spoke Zabuza.

Haku stood in front of Naruto and took out his senbons but Naruto used his speed and punched him in the face. Naruto's red chakra started to disappear. While Naruto was out of commission, Sasuke stepped forward and had a taijutsu battle with Haku and punched him too. Haku's mask cracked and started to fall down.

Naruto was shocked to see Haku as his opponent.

"you… you're Haku! From the forest! It was you?!" screamed Naruto.

"I'm afraid so. In the shinobi world, you don't get to pick your opponents." Said Haku gravely.

"Naruto! You know this guy?!" said Sasuke.

"Yeah… I met him while training." Said Naruto with a sad voice. He didn't want to hurt Haku, someone he knew.

"You must do it, Naruto. You must kill me. In the end, I was the one who killed that girl." Said Haku.

Naruto and Sasuke tightened their fists by their sides and jumped forwards at Sakura's mention. They both punched Haku and he flew back and landed rolling on the ground. Blood dripped from his mouth.

"You… you hurt her. I won't forgive you for that!" said Naruto angrily.

"That's right Naruto. Anger is the correct emotion. It proves you had someone worth protecting. Now you are truly strong."

Both Sasuke and Naruto took out kunais to finish off Haku and Haku stood defenseless in front of him, already having accepted his fate. Both of them ran.